Man, Is Biscuit really normal? Like, “normal” normal?

I couldn’t help but think after I saw all that horseshit in front of my eyes. Renji and Kai were moaning on the ground when I arrived, and the former of two clutching onto his family jewels quite tightly as tears and snot covered his face. I couldn’t help but wince a little.

I helped them up before checking up on Biscuit. There weren’t any wounds as far as I could examine her, and yes, she’d finally awoken. Anyhow, it seemed that another visit to the old granny was in order. That old coot demanded I come to her since she’s so old now. Bitch. She was a cultivator, I knew. Although I was no longer a cultivator, I knew one when I saw one, and she screamed Cultivator!

I had no clue what she was doing in this place, but one thing was for certain, she most definitely wasn’t old in any sense aside from her appearance maybe.

“Huh, what happened now?” She asked as I entered her house. It was a small cottage of sorts, built from rough-hewn timber and thatched with a mixture of straw and dried leaves. The cottage was nestled near the edge of the town. Vines of vibrant flowers adorned the entrance, and there was a smell of herbs about the place.

Inside the cottage, the air was filled with the comforting scent of herbs and incense. Shelves lined the walls, displaying an array of vials filled with different colored stuff—might even be drugs for all I knew—ancient scrolls, peculiar-looking herbs, and the like. In the center of the room stood a low wooden table, covered with intricate carvings, where the old granny sat near her cauldron.

The granny herself appeared to be well over a century old, yet her eyes were bright and sharp, and I could see the traces of her beauty that once should have topped the so-called “jade beauties.” She dressed in flowing robes with strange symbols.

I approached her, bowing respectfully, as she’d whined once, about how young today knew no respect for the elderly or something like that. “Granny, it’s me again. I brought Biscuit, and my disciples… she woke up today by the way, so I thought I’d get her checked up.”

The granny nodded crookedly. “Hmmm, bring her closer,” she said, “Also, who’re those brats?”

“My disciples,” I said while I brought Biscuit to the granny, who began to examine her. Her hands hovered above Biscuit’s body, and her eyes closed as if tapping into some hidden energy—Gu most likely. After a moment, she opened her eyes again, her expression contemplative. “Yes, she’s alright. Now, the brats.”

She walked up to them, and the same scene followed, “Eh, did they get into a catfight or something?”

“Uh, yes,” I said, not sure how to respond to this. “Um, you see, Biscuit did that.”

“Aha!” Granny’s eyes shone for a moment as she made a turn to Biscuit who hissed at her. Biscuit didn’t really like old Granny from what I’d gathered. She had been making this face that screamed bloody murder when Granny was checking up on her. Oh well, she wouldn’t do something stupid, hopefully. “I knew it!”

She cackled.

I raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the old hag.

“I knew she was a Spirit Beast. My old bones…” she sighed, “How could I forget that possibility?” she shook her head.

Spirit Beast.

Ah… that explains it then.

I knew of Spirit Beasts but my lack of Gu sense as a cripple didn’t let me know that she was a Spirit Beast. Why was there nothing about her being a Spirit Beast before on the system though? After a quick glance at the system page of hers, I was left dumbfounded. She did have Spirit Beast now. Why was it not there before? I sighed. Was this system faulty? Glitchy? What the fuck? Should I not trust it as much then?

Granny checked up on the boys and tended to them. While she did that, a kid around their age walked inside from behind the cottage. Ho? Some kind of other entrance? The boy stiffened slightly seeing us—more specifically me—but then went ahead and started working on the boys with Granny.

I observed him some more and decided to check up on him using Identify.

What…? What the fuck is this?

Even after rubbing my eyes, the Regressor template didn’t disappear. I sighed, of course, he is a fucking Regressor, that’s all I need right now, after all. My sarcasm aside, there was no ripple in my expression. I made sure there wasn’t any. The guy was a Regressor which meant he probably knew about me a bit, now the question was, If I had fucked him up in the future or not, if I had, then I was dead, and not even my meatshields could save me, if I hadn’t then I could probably make an effort into bagging this guy.

I cursed at my luck; he just had to appear in Bleak Town, what was he even doing here? Also, what the fuck was up with his Talent and Constitution? Not to mention his Path? This guy oozed opportunity, if I could take it, that is.

My gaze didn’t linger on him much longer and I returned my eyes to Biscuit who was purring in my arms. I scratched her and let my mind wander for plans for the future. I knew not what this guy was up to, but I had an inkling that it had something to do with these Crimson Mists. Or, maybe, something else.

That’s for later though.

I’d rather go train my Disciples than spend time here. Granny treated Renji and Kai, and we left. Another strange thing I caught was that she wanted to say something but hadn’t. Was it due to the kid Xu Yunfei? It could be.

Back home, I let Renji and Kai rest on their own while I went ahead and walked to the library of the mansion with Biscuit in tow, I needed to find out if there was a way to cure my shattered Eclipse Heart. Because I’d much rather protect myself than rely on someone else, especially kids.

The library was situated near the northern end of the mansion just after an indoor garden of sorts, with glass over the sides to let the sunlight in. I entered the underground library, with window-shaped crystals shining inside—some more magic bullshit. I shrugged and let my eyes wander over the towering shelves laden with ancient-looking tomes and leather-bound scrolls.

You’d think they’d have made some kind of way to store information given all the magic bullshit they have, but apparently, that’s wrong. I pondered to myself as I pulled out a few books and scrolls, searching for any mention of a remedy for my shattered Eclipse Heart.

My fingers traced lines of text; I skim-read most of the stuff while my mind wandered through Ryujin’s memories to get some information. Alas, even as time seemed to melt away as I delved deeper into my research, I found nothing.

There were mentions of some experiments conducted to give—or develop—an Eclipse Heart for a mortal without one, but no mention of recovering a shattered Eclipse Heart. How unfortunate.

My shoulders sagged a little before I drowned myself in all the other stuff. There was too much to go through and I wouldn’t stop until I went through everything. A warm light filtered through the crystals, casting a tranquil glow across the room and the pages I read through. The scent of aged paper hung in the air, and I got more and more desperate as time seemed to seep away.

From day to night, to morning again, I found absolutely nothing.

I slumped back on the ground, rubbing my eyes with one hand as the other rested on the soft mattress below. Suddenly, however, a soft, insistent mewing caught my attention. I glanced down to see Biscuit padding over to me with an absolutely bored expression covering her snout. She slumped onto my lap and then snuggled closer, rolling over and demanding attention.

She’d been playing with some scrolls I threw aside and now she was bored, it seemed. I let myself smile through all the desperation and bleakness of my situation. Man, this life didn’t seem all bad now that I thought of it. A small farm, or something like that, away from all this crazy bullshit, with Biscuit and any other pets I might get. Life would be so peaceful, but alas, that would only be possible if I didn’t have such deep roots in this sect.

Not only would I be killed by my own sect if I left, but I also wouldn’t live long even if I escaped from them. I—or more specifically, Ryujin—was a famous Demonic Cultivator with quite a big chunk of “evil” he’d done in this world. I would be held responsible for that even if I wanted to or not. Not to mention how much those memories bothered me mentally.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I grabbed Biscuit and stood up, looking around at the mess I’d made. Considering this wasn’t even one-fifth of this place, I knew that I’d be spending quite a bit of time here. I sighed and decided to let the scrolls and stuff stay as is, I had servants to do this stuff for me now. With Biscuit in my arms, I made my way out of the library and into my room before slumping down to sleep for a few hours.

***

I watched as Renji and Kai meditated. I’d always been curious about how Cultivation in this world worked but I hadn’t seen someone actually doing it until now. Renji and Kai cultivated on their own till now due to a tradition in the Demonic Sect. The tradition of only helping your Disciples when utterly needed otherwise leaving them to their own devices. How would they develop themselves when everything was laid on a silver platter in front of them? For this reason alone, the Masters of Disciples helped only when needed and left them alone usually.

This was exactly the reason I’d left them alone.

Today, though, I watched.

Sadly, I could no longer see Gu—all I saw was fluttering clothes and hair, along with any leaf that made its way near their bodies. No light shows, no glittering hearts, nothing. Furthermore, they did nothing but cultivate usually. How would they protect me like this? Did they even know how to fight?

I sighed.

When they were done, I got close to them and decided to talk about it.

“Remind me why you only meditate and cultivate by the way,” I asked with such nonchalance they wouldn’t suspect a thing. Sure enough, they didn’t.

“We are nearing our Breakthrough Master,” It was Wang Kai who responded to my question.

“Huh, does that mean you shouldn’t practice?” I asked with a bit of an edge to my tone. They winced a little but made sure to talk to me. I’d made sure they didn’t just cower away. There was no place for cowardice here. “We want to Breakthrough because we thought the Master was testing us and would only teach us when we prove ourselves by breaking ourselves out of our Mortal chains.”

Ah, I see, I see. Typical.

“You need not prove yourself, this time is essential for your foundation. Why waste rushing to breakthrough? Purify your Eclipse Hearts more, not only that, practice techniques, fight, spar, do whatever.” I spoke. “You’re not allowed to breakthrough until you just have to, or you fear exploding.”

People exploded if they Purified their Eclipse Hearts above a certain point, and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. It was very ugly. Just imagine someone exploding from inside out. Yeah… horseshit, that. I wondered, was it because of some kind of restriction placed on mortals and cultivators alike? By the heavens? If Purity went up to Primordial which was 100% according to my system, could it be that most people were capped at a certain percent, and if they tried to go above it they would explode? Is this why that level of Purity has been forgotten and Cultivators Breakthrough the moment they can? Hmmm… something to experiment with later, I will see with my disciples as well. Let’s see. Of course, I’m not about to let them explode, but seeing their limits and comparing them with the percentage in the system would give me a rough estimate of how things are supposed to be. And, if I can find some kind of way to get past this limit set by the heavens, and make my disciples breakthrough with higher Purity than they’re meant to be…

My eyes shone. If my speculation was true, then, I would easily be able to groom strong disciples.

If this is true, this changes everything.